Cytotec at homebirths - Page 2

[Barefooter]

But please learn from this mistake. These people live w/some doctor's mistake which was made before they were born. You also will live w/ some professional's mistake, and they will retire and move away while you sort out the rest of your life.

Believe me, I have learned from this mistake. I have contacted MANA and NARM about this midwife.

Karen

[MysticHealerMom]

Originally posted by Barefooter
You can read about my birth at www.birthlove.com under "Take This Pill and Have Your Baby in the Morning."

Somewhat OT T

aparently you have to be a member to do a search on this site. I haven't decided if I want to join that site, yet. I couldn't find your story. I'm sorry for your experience and I agree that cytotec has no place at hb. i can't imagine using any type of labor excellerant @home, including brushing the membranes, but to each their own.

[Charmie981]

It's not true that no drug is approved for use during pregnancy: Pitocin is approved for use to induce labor in pregnant women, but not approved for ELECTIVE induction and now cytotec is listed as an approved labor induction medication as well, scary as that fact is.

My teaching MW's backup OB gave her the option the other day of inducing a patient with cytotec and allowing her to return to the birth center to labor and give birth. She, of course, refused and the client was admitted to the hospital and induced with pitocin b/c her placenta was disentigrating. A MW who would use cytotec w/o the proper means to deal with the consequences of such a dangerous drug is indeed SCARY.

[Barefooter]

Cytotec story

aparently you have to be a member to do a search on this site. I haven't decided if I want to join that site, yet. I couldn't find your story. I'm sorry for your experience and I agree that cytotec has no place at hb. i can't imagine using any type of labor excellerant @home, including brushing the membranes, but to each their own.

I have another article posted at Epinions that is similiar:

http://www.epinions.com/content_2044895364

Karen

[MysticHealerMom]

Thanks Karen!

[applejuice]

drugs in pregnancy and the FDA

To Charmie981

Be advised that I said that these drugs are not approved for use in pregnancy and delivery and that the doctor does NOT share the prescribing information w/ the patient when he does use the drug for pregnancy and delivery.

My sister was given cytotec in 1991. It was NOT approved then and it was used anyway in a government hospital. She nearly died, bleeding, as did her son, who ended up at Bethesda, receiving many blood transfusions.

I know doctors give many drugs. Always ask to read the prescibing information; information which the drug companies share w/ the doctors and who do not usually share the information w/ the patient, who lives w/ the results.

[hawleyclan]

Hi! or should that be ... I was reorganizing my notes from a midiwfery conference earlier this year, and I ran across some interesting information that Ina May Gaskin shared on the subject of induction...

- In the last 10-15 years, the rate of induced labor has gone from 9-12% all the way to 40+%.

- Ruptures (uterine) have occurred with ALL FORMS of hospital induction.

- Physicians are allowed to prescribe medications for off-label use at their discretion.

- Breaking tablets (as in Cytotec doses), is not a safe form of reducing dose since the distribution of the active ingredient in tablets is not uniform, a quarter of a tablet may actually have most of the active ingredient in it and be equivalent to a full dose...

- Cytotec studies are too different, the variables are too many, as to: dosage used, time frames, whether administration was oral/rectal/vaginal, whether placed in the cervix or behind, etc.

- Of under 5000 women given cytotec in studies, 25 had ruptures, 2 maternal deaths, 15 infant deaths, and 8-10 hysterectomies.

- Uterine rupture and artery damage have occurred with Cytotec use. Even 1/4 of a tablet has had horrible results. Death and hysterectomy have occurred, even 13-30 hours after vaginal tablets were given. Hyperstimulation of the uterus can not be regulated with cytotec (unlike pitocin which can be turned off or down).

- There is increased risk of postpartum hemorrhage and amniotic fluid embolism.


I could not feel safe using this product, even if a dosage system could be agreed on, I do not like the fact that it can not be regulated if the mother does have an intense reaction. There is no antidote that can be given to counteract or stop the effect of the drug- you just have to ride it out and hope for the best.

That said- there is not a form of medical induction out there that is 100% safe, and all have caused uterine rupture. You just have to make an educated choice if you are in a position of being induced.

Even the "natural" forms of induction can have risks attached. I would go for least invasive and medical first, like sex- nipple stimulation- Evening primrose oil orally and vaginally... then it would be a toss up between a labor stimulating tincture or castor oil (I would not use the full recommended dose though. I would even consider using a different laxative oil such as flaxseed oil...) I'm really not fond of any form of induction, I've been on pitocin- not fun- and we used nipple stimulation to start another of my labors and it was really intense too. Castor oil induction, while close friends have used it with success, they were not happy with the results overall- labors were too fast and hard, some meconium staining...

Sometimes you have to pick out of the options what you can feel most confident with.

The Lord bless you,
Zoie
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Godsbabycatchers

[homebirthing]

It is horrible that you had to go through that. So many women are having uterine ruptures from it. Those will be very good questions to ask future midwifes. My midwife doesn't carry oxygen or pit. That was the decision that I made, to go with her. She trusts in birth completely. I just wanted to tell you also that you can have a wonderful homebirth, please don't let that horrible midwife speak for the whole wonderful midwifery community. I am glad that you are calling those places to tell them about her. Who knows how many people she might have done that too.

[Barefooter]

I am glad that you are calling those places to tell them about her. Who knows how many people she might have done that too.


Sadly, I know of several others who have been subjected to Cytotec from this midwife. It's hard to stop someone who is getting referrals from a VBAC author and The Michigan Midwives Association.

Karen

[brookelynnp]

Wow I am so shocked at the insensativity of these midwives! Especially mamamels' who actually left her during her labor in the hospital without telling her?! That is just unbelievable and a disgrace to the art of midwifery Please remember that their are a majority of midwives who would never in a million years do that to a client! It makes me so mad and sad that this happened to you! I think that I would have been more spiteful after she left without telling and would have told the medical staff the whole picture. It is one thing to lie about the time of rupture of membranes but to lie and leave you in a dangerous position in a hospital where they wanted to give you pitocin because they didn't know the full story is beyond irresponsible! I am so glad that you knew enough to say no. Would she have left you to go to another birth if you were still at home laboring? I think not she chickened out and abandoned you. I hope that you have or will let her have it some day in writing or a visit to her!

[WriterMama]

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[applejuice]

I wouldn't ban you.

You discussed the use and knew the possible consequences of using the drug. Fully informed as you could possibly be in that difficult situation.

My problem w/ any drug is that not everyone uses their head.

I can hear it now...
..."you take a chance every time you cross the street."

When you cross the street, you at least look one way and then the other and then decide to cross.

You do not cross the street blind-folded.

Twenty years ago my hb doctor used the amniotic sac puncturer. I did not like it but I understood why he used it.

[brookelynnp]

I too have heard of many great outcomes from the use of cytotec. I geuss every circumstance is different. I did think that most uterine ruptures happened when there was a previous cesarean scar. ANyone heard more of this?

[AutumnMoonfire]

I am so annoyed this is happening. Cytotec is an ulcer drug. One can always turn off or turn down IV Pitocin. I was overseeing an induction for a mom who had lost her baby at 18 weeks. the OB was using cytotec, I raised every objection I could think of, his answer was to order vital signs every 30 minutes while she was in labor! I said that I had heard that it could cause uterine rupture in women who'd had c-sections, he said yes, but she's not term, but couldn't tell me for sure if this made a difference. I am on his sh*t list now let me tell you! The patient did fine medically. My parting shot was that I hoped they were not using this on term pts...he replied not yet!!!!

[Chloe]

Cytotec is for something else, and was reccommended that it NOT be given during pregnancy, as it causes uterine contractions.

It is not safe. Urge every woman you know to REFUSE this drug if a doctor or midwife suggests it.

Here's a good article: http://www.midwiferytoday.com/articl...ogyinbirth.asp

[Nee Nee]

cytotec

I posted an excellent article on this topic in the midwife/doula forum...but didnt get much of a response..I guess I should have tried a different forum...heres the article I posted.

http://cbc.ca/national/news/forcedlabour/

[crazy_eights]

Originally posted by WriterMama


I knew the risks of cytotec and my mw reiterated them to me. We made the decision together. Normally hospitals give dosages of 50 to 100 mcg. My mw gave me 8 mcg and inserted it vaginally. An hour later, my contrax began and established a normal pattern.

I wonder how well informed you really were. A dose of 8 mcg is *impossible*. I am an RN who is authorized by my hospital to cut and insert cytotec. The drug only comes in 100 mcg tablets. It must be cut into quarters to give a 25 mcg dose - if you cut it any smaller the tablet crumbles (it is a tiny tablet to begin with). Just getting it cut into quarters can be a challange. ACOG in their now infamous cytotec rebutal recommended a 25 mcg dose inserted vaginally (b/c theoretically it can be removed - it takes quite a while to disolve - while orally it can't) and nothing higher. Hospitals in my region won't insert any higher dosage, though I know some docs in other places will. A doc who inserts a higher doseage and has a bad outcome will have absolutely *nothing* to save his behind, b/c the ACOG recommendation is the only thing that can be cited as standard of practice!

After all this is said and done, as mentioned before, you really don't know what doseage you are getting since it isn't a standardized dose.

I'm glad it worked out for you. But personally, working with the stuff scares me to death - and we are very conservative with it.

[hawleyclan]

Thanks for the Article!

It is terrible to read about these outcomes. I will add this article to my Cytotec files.

I have had contact with a sweet mom online, whose unscarred uterus ruptured during a cytotec induced labor. She has been very outspoken about the risks, and others who have had negative experiences also tend to be quite forthright about it. The trouble lies in getting the damage to be recorded as a result of cytotec, the horrible outcomes are easy to write off as a result of some other cause- such as multiparity, age, etc.

Sad.

Personally, I hate to hear of midwives who use this product, it just doesn't really fit the call. There are too many other options, and if they don't produce the needed result, then it isn't time, or take the situation to a hospital. Homebirth is about normal birth, if you have to give cytotec it just isn't normal anymore.

It is pretty easy to be relaxed about a particular protocol, or drug, until you see it have a bad outcome, or survive a bad outcome personally. Why take the chance?

The Lord bless you,
Zoie
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Godsbabycatchers
Aspiring Midwives Study Group

[WriterMama]

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[hotmamacita]

No one should take it. I had it with my first, it had been misrepresented to us, and it was violent. It also caused seizures in my daughter the first week of life.